A 1948 home theater – yes, 1948

A 1948 home theater? Yup. What goes around comes around, and this basement home theater — featuring those old film reels in cans — doesn’t look all too different from many home theaters today with their big, flat, wide screens tucked into the wall just like the cinema. Thanks to Tamara, who found this illustration in a 1948 Chromedge catalog. .

Note the art deco/streamline feel of this room… the linearity makes it feel almost like a railroad car… and the colors and glitz, like a Hollywood picture show palace. Chromedge made chrome edging (ha!) for countertops, and look: You can even see the Chromedge stair tread trim and… their fancy chrome trim between the rectangular wall panels in the home theater room. Remember, back in 1948, folks were very much in a do-it-yourself mode. I can imagine Dads studying this catalog and making plans to finish the basement using relatively easy-to-install wall panels like those shown here. Knotty pine, then other sorts of wood paneling, were even more popular — but for the same reasons: Affordable DIY (and paneling was very much in synch with the long-lasting popularity of Early American style.)

More delicious pages from this Chromedge catalog to come soon, you all will love it. Many thanks, Tamara!